The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-05-28

Aome Personal Recollectlons Of
= Deputy SheriE:

A few weeks ago an interview
with Hon. Harvey H. Whitehall
the ex-Sheriff of Grant county, New
Mexico, was published, which
called up in my mind some very
lively recollections of the stirring
days when that gentleman held the
office of Sheriff for one of the two
American peopled counties of New
Mexico, and when l had the honor
an anxiety. combined of being his
chief deputy.
To those whose knowledge of the
duties of a Sheriff is confined to
the office as administered by Sher-
iff Grant of New York, and of Sher-
ifs in Eastern States generally, the
position does not present a less
promising outlook than that OF
one in any other department of the
municipal government.
The further west, however, you
90 the more the character Of the
Office changes and the closer the
Sheriff approaches to the position
of Chief Of Police rather than
that of a civil officer. When you
reach that section Of the country
which is known popularity as the
wild southwest the civil part O.
the Sheriff~s duty becomes of the
least Importance, while his police
duties start into strong and un
pleasant prominence. At the pc
riod when, through want of some
thing better to do and a desire tc
see life and death-for they &C
closely together in that section o
the country-I took upon mysel
the duties of a Deputy Sheriff in
border county, things in New Mex
leo were in. a transition period.
At this period, 1882. there
were no policemen even in tht
largest towns Of the Territory, ant
the entire duty of keeping law anc
order devolved on the Sheriffs o
the several counties and their dep
uties. Every mining camp il
Grant county that had more than ;
couple of hundred inhabitants had
a resident Deputy Sheriff, and il
towns like Silver City you nigh
see two or three. An examination
into the character Of the mel
men charged with preserving
law and order under the olt
Kerney code, which has remained
unchanged since New Mexic'
was conquered from the Mexi
cans, exhibited them usually as
class fully as desperate, though
not as criminal, as those witt
whom they had to deal, and out o
about forty of them who held offic
under Sheriff Whitehall, canno
recall one who had not, at one tim
or other, killed his man, while som
of them, like Daniel Tucker, VIII
kept the peace in the mining tow
of Shakespeare in the Pyrami'
range, had killed several. In fact
he was credited with having starte
the graveyard in that lively littl
camp, which boastcd that of forty
five Inferred in it, all had died wit
their boots on except one. Tn
solitary exception was babe tina
died Immediately after the onl
woman in camp had given it brit
Those southwestern deputie
were a very distinct type OF me
from those which the police con
missioners OF an eastern city woul
have selected for criminal worl
They were not remarkable for the
splendid physique or avoirdupol
As a rule they were small of statu'
and light of weight. The qualitlt
for which they were selected wei
of a different character from thos
which govern police boards in gel
eral. The cardinal virtue was
be q dead shot and to be "quick o
the draw" Clubs were unknow
and nippers were never carried. .
a man who was being arrested Il
any offense, no matter how trivia
attempted to pull, he was shot q
the spot, and if his resistance too
the milder form of using his fis
the butt end of a 45-caliber pist
wa. the club employed to lay hi
out.
There were quite a number
border towns and mining CAM
: close to the line of Old Mexic
where neither the Sheriff nor
deputy was ever seen, and Shak
spea,e was one Of them. lie
/ lived and flourished Curly Bill, Il
hero of quite a number OF din
novels, and quite as remarkable
fellow in his way as his still mo
celebrated contemporary Billy &
: Kid. Curly Bill had gather
! round him a gang Of the most DC
/, perate cattle-thieves and murdere
/, that ever ran riot in a communi'
They were all dead'shots, and tht
favorite amusement on reachll
o the little tswn, after . cattle r.
across the Mexican frontier, was
get up q row for the simple pleasu
Of killing some unoffending min
]! The people lived in absolute terror